Reading Update #2

I just finished Sean Wilentz’s Chants Democratic: New York City and the Rise of the American Working Class, 1788-1850. It was originally published in 1984 but reissued on its 20th anniversary with a new introduction by Wilentz. I read it right after Kessner’s Capital City, and the too make an interesting pair. While Kessner studies [...]

Things you can do with old keyboards

Berlin has several fun fleamarkets on Sundays, including one here in Friedrichshain, at Boxhagener Platz. The fleamerkets here aren’t just a place to buy used, retro, or rare items. A lot of new artists sell their work there, as well. And there’s some some live entertainment going on.
My favorite objet d’art today was this jewellery [...]

On the town

This is a little late, but as you might have guessed I was indisposed the last couple of days.
Last Wednesday my German class took a Stadtfuhrung during which we had to give each other a part of the tour. It was a great day, cooler than it had been for my first two weeks here. [...]

German doctors!

It’s definetely not fun being sick in a foreign country where you don’t have a support system – though I’ve become a bit of an expert in it. A friend of mine says I’m very delicado, because I seem to get sick so often, especially at the end of every semester. Of course the medical [...]

Party time at the Berliner Ensemble!

If Brecht had not become Brecht, his early, obscure plays, like Kleinbuergerhochzeit would never ever be staged. But of course Brecht went on to become Brecht, and so the Berliner Ensemble is proud to present anything he dished out as a youth, in addition to his classic, mature plays. It’s not necessarily a bad play: [...]

The Jews at the Berliner Ensemble

On Sunday night, the Berliner ensemble simultaneously presented two plays by Lessing: Nathan the Wise, which I had already seen, played the main stage, while The Jews was offered nextdoor at the Probebuehne, the rehearsal space which is used as a studio theatre, an unusual white box, at least for this production.
Nathan and The Jews [...]

Everyone’s an expert!

The amazing thing about the European Cup, is that every man in Europe is suddenly becomes an expert on the same thing. Today it was the Romanian team’s style: apparently they’re not a good team but they play very “hard”, whatever that means.
Yesterday, I was coming home after Germany’s victory, and I felt like I [...]

Tropical Nights Ahead

I just moved into a new apartment in Berlin, in Friechshain, and this is what my bedroom looks like! I’m not quite sure whatthe story behind the mural is, but I will let you all know when I find out!

View from the Bridge

 One of the big differences between Berlin and New York is that here there are places where you can completly forget you are in a city. This is the view of the canal between Kreuzberg and Neukoln, with the trees hiding the facades of the buildings around the canal. Because it is so spread out, [...]

Belshazzar at the Staatsoper, Berlin

As Germany prepares for the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death in 2009, Haendel is taking over the repertory of many houses. And rightly so. The new production of Belshazzar at the Staatsoper sounds great, and looks great, since they decided to fully stage this oratorio. Purists might scoff but the direction doesn’t compromise the music [...]